The toxicity of mercury is such that the element should not be allowed to contaminate air and water. Spilled mercury is often the source of mercury poisoning because it is finely divided and produces a relatively large amount of mercury vapor. Moreover, collecting all the spilled mercury in any particular spill is extremely difficult because of the high surface tension and high density of liquid elemental mercury.
Heretofore, granulated active charcoal containing iodine has been considered to be the best means of removing mercury vapor. However, the absorption rate and capacity of iodine bearing carbon for mercury is relatively low. More recently it has been proposed to employ a water soluble silver salt impregnated on a solid carrier and containing sufficient moisture for speedy reaction of the silver salt with mercury. This latter method, however, is not without its disadvantages and is unduly costly and requires an undue reaction time.
Therefore, there is a need for a composition of matter for taking up liquid elemental mercury at a relatively fast rate and at a cost that is not prohibitively expensive.